1 can’t narrow it down to just one favorite Christmas CD.
Bing Crosby"s White Christmas is a favorite because of the old traditional songs that are on it. Every time I hear Christmas in Killarney, it takes me back to my pre-school years. Waiting for Dad to come home from work, sitting on the couch, looking at the tree with the bubble lights on, snow falling outside. It is a wonderful memory.
My other favorite is the Carpenters Christmas Portrait. It has on it my favorite version of my favorite Christmas song, Sleigh Ride. Another favorite is Merry Christmas Darling. Karen Carpenter has an amazing voice.
Jimmy Buffett, Christmas on Christmas Island. It’s especially good if you’re spending Christmas in a cold place, when you don’t like the cold. Also good if you prefer margaritas over egg nog.
My favorite is Christmas with the Rat Pack. Most of the songs are classics, there are a couple of hymns, and you can just tell that Dean Martin has the microphone in one hand and a good stiff drink in the other.
My runner-up is definitely A Charlie Brown Christmas, already mentioned by other posters.
I usually get sick of Christmas music pretty quickly, but I’m always happy this time of year when I can get out my copy of Frosty The Blues Man by Michael Powers, so I guess that must be my favorite.
Hm. I appear to have a clone on the board, for I am exactly the same. (I’m willing to listen to tubas, too, as long as it isn’t “Let it snow.”) I’m very picky, so I only own about 8 albums so far.
My current favorite is “A timeless Christmas” by Mark Geslison and Geoff Groberg and some other people. I think it was published by an LDS music company–anyway I heard it while browsing at the local LDS bookstore and had to own it, because it has two classic Danish carols, sung properly–not easy to come by. It’s a mixture of sung and instrumental carols in a variety of languages and styles, and just really pleasant to listen to.
I’m also listening to “Wolcum Yule” by the Anonymous 4 and Loreena McKennitt’s “A winter garden.”
There’s a Harry Belafonte Christmas record that my parents have, I love the mans voice. I don’t normally like carols all that much but I like 'em when he sings 'em.
Hot dog! I have a very abused copy of their Christmas album on vinyl…so glad to see it made it onto CD (augmented, no less - my album only had 20 songs). Thanks for the link, Shirley!
Enchanted Carols: A Feast Of Christmas Music is the one I couldn’t remember. Quite often, the pieces as listed will include segues of the same songs into different formats, so you may here “Hark, The Herald Angels Sing”
Quite often, the pieces as listed will include segues of the same songs into different formats, so you may here “Hark, The Herald Angels Sing” as rendered by a street piano, cutting into different versions from different music boxes. Sometimes it’s different music boxes synchronized to play a piece at once. It’s a neat little piece of work, and a great album I come back to a lot.
I love Amy Grant’s CD with “Breath of Heaven” on it. She has another one, but it’s not as good. The reason I like Amy Grant is because she has a lovely voice but her voice doesn’t dominate the recording. She sings them the way you’d hear them in church: softly and humbly.
Then there are the singers who use Christmas as just another backdrop for their vocal acrobatics. Mariah and Whitney: If you can scale seven octaves with one word, that’s impressive. And it has its place in pop music. But don’t take a Christmas song about the humble birth of an impoverished child and pretend your version has anything to do with Him when clearly it’s all about YOU.
beagledave, I was just about to recommend Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song. It’s the only Christmas album I really like. I can’t hear his version of “O Holy Night” without tearing up.
I almost bought it a couple of weeks ago! Now I really want it. I have Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra doing christmas songs on other compilations but I like it best when Christmas music has a lot of swing. I guess because I have a good stiff drink in the other hand most of the time too.
